Are you struggling to write a Business Plan or even find the motivation to be pick up a pen to even start? Many business people who must write a Business Plan, whether for internal planning or for their Bank Manager, fall at the first hurdle, and don’t produce a Plan because they haven’t the faintest clue where to start.

There is no excuse for this to happen. If you have never put a Business Plan together, you don’t have to struggle on your own because there is plenty of support out there to help you write a blockbuster of a Plan.

Here are some of the places or people you can seek assistance from.

Your Team

Don’t ignore the people who know as much about the business as you do – your staff. Enlist their help and use all the knowledge they possess. It’s usual to find that, in some cases, they have a more in-depth knowledge about specific areas of the business than you!

Bring together the key people in your business and explain to them what you are planning to do, and that you need their help in compiling a Business Plan. Allocate specific parts of the Plan to the people who have the right skills: sales and marketing to your sales and marketing people; production issues to your production team etc. Tell them that you need a complete overview of their contribution to the business; how their department works; how they interact with the rest of the business; their strengths and weaknesses.

In order that the process doesn’t drag on too long, give them a specific deadline by which their contribution has to be returned.

Don’t overlook the power of co-opting your staff in helping to complete your Plan. There is no better way to achieve “buy-in” to your vision and strategy than getting your team involved.

Accountants

If you can afford it, you can ask for help from an accountant. He will have seen many Plans and so can provide some practical advice, particularly where Profit and Loss and Cash Flow forecasts are concerned. If you don’t feel comfortable with figures or you don’t have an accountant within your business, then it would be wise to seek help in compiling these figures, after all, the Bank is going to make some very important decisions based on these forecasts, so they have to be as accurate as possible.

However, don’t underestimate the benefits of doing the forecasts yourself. This exercise will give you a very good understanding of how your business works from a financial perspective; you’ll realise the importance of managing cash properly and the effect a rapidly increasing or decreasing turnover can have. In addition, because you did the figures yourself, it will give you the motivation to monitor your performance on a regular basis.

Once you have finished the forecasts, you can still ask your accountant to review them to ensure that you’re not totally mad! He can give you a formal ‘stamp of approval’ to include in your Business Plan, so listen to what he has to say.

If you don’t have an accountant, speak to other business people and get a recommendation from them as to whom to use. A recommendation can save you many hours of phone calls and interviews.

The Bank

You may think that the Bank would not wish to spend time talking through your idea, but don’t forget that they are on the look out for good business, so it’s in their interest to get in early before any other Bank does. If you are already one of their business customers, they should be happy to review your initial plans. The Bank’s aim is to build a relationship with you, and so they will be pleased to provide their thoughts on any expansion plans. The same applies if you are a customer who maintains an ordinary personal account and is looking to start up in business for the first time.

Getting the Bank involved early on means you can pick their brains and get their early views, before you make any irreversible decisions. You may think that this is a bit odd but being pointed in the right direction may save you time later. For example, by seeking their early thoughts, you may get the impression that the Bank is not keen on your idea so this could give you the clue that you may be better off placing your request with another Bank.

If this is your first time in business, or the first Plan you are writing, asking someone to go through the key issues with you will provide a number of tips and advice, which aren’t necessarily included in any Bank booklets or brochures. The advantage of this approach is it won’t cost you a penny and you are establishing an immediate relationship with the person who will be reviewing your Plan.

Business Colleagues, Local Chambers Of Commerce or Chambers of Trade

These are organisations comprising of local business people who get together on a regular basis to share ideas and experiences, hold seminars and trade fairs. You may think that people already in business, especially in the same line as you, would not want to help someone else start up in business or expand in case it damages their own firm. However, this is far from the case.

All entrepreneurs know what it’s like during the early days in business or the problems trying to grow an existing one. They will be more than willing to share their experiences and give some general advice. You’ll be surprised at how generous some business people can be.

Books

There are numerous books on how to prepare Business Plans. Each of them has something different to add, so buy a few and pick up some of the key points.

Take a visit to your local library. As well as books on how to put a Plan together, they may have information relating to your line of business, which could be useful in gathering background facts to bring your Plan to life.

With these sources of advice there really is no excuse for you not getting down to writing that long overdue Business Plan!

Robert Warlow

Small Business Success

Having a business plan is so important to you as an online marketer. But most people, who start online businesses, especially small businesses, do not really take the initiative to make a business plan. Probably they think that it’s not necessary. But for sure there is little you can achieve in life without proper planning. More so in the contemporary times when survival depends largely on one’s ability to organize your physical and mental resources well. The future is actually for those who are organized. And the future of your business is dependent on your good planning.

Planning is very important in life. Everybody should do planning at individual or family level. As an individual, you should plan for the day well in advance in order to accomplish what is to be done in that day. At family level, a family plan helps to focus on supporting the entire family in its growth and development. Planning is also done at business and organizational level.

A business plan is therefore an outline for taking an idea for a product or service and turning it into a commercially viable reality. It’s a roadmap of the business you intend to start and without it you may end up getting lost on the way. It should therefore be remembered that having generated your business ideas and analyzed them to come up with the most viable idea, it’s important to create a business plan for your online home business. Do you have one?

Some people think that they do not need a business plan for a small business. But let me make it clear that the size of the business doesn’t matter. Whether small or big, you need a plan. If you need a plan as an individual and for your family, then why not have a plan for your small business? Like for individuals and families, you need to plan for your online small business.

A business plan shows you what you would like to achieve and how to achieve it. Although not all plans are written down, a good business plan should be written down. If you have it in your head, it’s high time you spent some time to write it down for better results.

Why should you create a business plan?

1. It encourages you to think deeply about your business objectives and goals.

When you create a business plan, you get to think about the short-term and long-term objectives. It also helps to develop a mission statement for your business. This helps you to remain focused as you do your business.

2. It encourages you to think about the possible problems and how to overcome them.

In any business you may think about, there are always risks involved. Creating a business plan enables you to anticipate the risks that you may encounter in the process of running your business. It also makes you to think about the various ways of overcoming the problem in case it happens. That’s a proven way of looking at things for you to remain in business.

3. You get a clear picture of the whole business project.

The process of making a business plan makes it possible for you to focus on the nature of your business in details, to analyze your target market, to develop a marketing and operational plan and to make your financial projections.

4. You get new ideas.

It becomes easy to communicate your ideas to the people you interface with, who in turn can give you better ideas or complement the ones you have. Collect all the material to one place. Having a business plan makes it possible to have all your ideas and plans in one place. It becomes easier for you refer to it and to use it to develop your business. You become a more committed business person and even others people, like your prospective financiers, can easily regard you as a serious business person.

As I conclude, I would like to advice all people, who want to start any kind of business or who already have business without a business plan, to think about creating one as way to building a successful business. One of the causes of failure in business is lack of proper planning. Create a business plan if you want to succeed in your online home business!

I read a lot of business plans. I may be one of the few people who read them for business as well as pleasure. Having read a ton of business plans over the years I have seen my share of truly well crafted, edited and delivered business plans. I have also seen my share of business plans that I considered an embarrassing display of business thought.

Mistake #5 – If you’re bored writing it, guess how much more bored someone else will be reading it?

If you’re not enjoying writing your businesses plan then what makes you think someone else is going to enjoy reading it? When I look at a business plan, the person who is buying a business or starting the business usually writes it. This person more than anyone should be the most passionate about the business or the idea they are pitching.

“Make it your own and own it”

When I get a business plan and its boring or lacks any passion the first thing that comes to my mind is to wonder if this person isn’t passionate about their business why should I be passionate about it?

There are a lot of business plans on the Internet, books and software. Most of them use a very specific formula and approach. Many authors of business plans believe that the outline or the piece of software that spits out a business plan, or the way its written in a book is the way a business plan has to look, sound and feel. Nothing could be further from the truth!

TIP: Use and outline so you don’t miss any relevant parts of the business plan, but use your own voice and style. Make it your own and not another software rehash.

MISTAKE #4 – Bigger is better –

You know what? If you have a 200-page business plan for a coffee shop with 3 employees then your plan is too big. Most lenders or investors are looking for very specific information in your business plan. Usually, they are looking at your assumptions, your management team, your exit strategy, etc. Adding more words will not make your business plan more true. Most investors will not be fooled by a thick business plan, especially if they have to dig through a bunch of pages to get to one or two paragraphs.

TIP: If a word, sentence or paragraph doesn’t add value to what you’re trying to convey in your business plan take it out. A well-written 5-page business plan is worth a lot more than a 15-page mess.

“Let Every Word, Sentence and Paragraph add value to your plan”

Investors and lenders are usually very busy people. Show them that you appreciate their time and intelligence by writing in a clear, concise manner that is crisp and to the point.

MISTAKE #3 – Making a presentation that doesn’t match the plan

I have once had a guy come in to give a presentation for a start up business. In his presentation he said he needed $50,000 in seed capital. He then went on to give a great presentation about this new product and how profitable it would be to the investors and for the company. It was very impressive.

“Know your business and know your plan”

A few hours later I was reading through the plan and what he actually needed was $375,000 to get he plan off the ground. The number was so different that it couldn’t have been a mistake. I don’t know what he was thinking but it totally ruined his credibility with all of us.

TIP: Know what’s in your plan and make sure what you are saying matches what are in your plan.

MISTAKE #2 – Leaving out information that is damaging about yourself, your company or your market.

If you’re attempting to obtain capital from outside investors then you can expect them to do, at a minimum, a background check on you, your company and do some comparative analysis of your market. There are always going to be additional questions about your assumptions, your market or questions about you, but the worse thing you can do is purposely fail to disclose something that is potentially damaging.

“Be totally open and honest about everything”

Hiding bad credit, a bankruptcy, a criminal record or anything is just as bad as being caught in a lie because it destroys your credibility more than if you would be honest about it up front.

TIP: If you have something damaging to disclose make it a part of your presentation and get the facts out the way and how you have handled it. Make it a non-issue.

MISTAKE #1 – Editing

If three people haven’t seen your business plan and presentation before you give it to a lender or investor then you are asking for trouble. I am very careful about the plans I write for others and myself. Even after I have spent hours or days checking and rechecking a plan, I ask a couple of people who I trust to look at it and check it for spelling errors, tone and making sure everything matches.

“There are no second chances to make a first impression”

Once an investor gets your plan it’s too late to go back and say that “too” was suppose to be “to” or the $123.00 was suppose to be $1230.00. One mistake might not hurt you too much, but if you have enough of them the investor will probably think you lack an attention to detail.

TIP: Pay to have a professional proofreader or editor look at your plan. If you’re applying for any amount of money it will be money well spent.

There are of course many more mistakes that a business plan writer can and do make when creating a business plan. But at lease you can make sure your plans do not have these mistakes.